Biography
Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson (born Maxwell Henry Aronson) was an American actor, director, writer and producer. He played multiple uncredited roles in Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery (1903) and subsequently wrote, directed and starred in his own films.
In 1907 Anderson co-founded Essanay Studios with George Kirke Spoor. He appeared in and directed hundreds of short films, most notably a series of 148 Westerns in which he played the character Broncho Billy. He received an honorary Academy Award in 1958 as a motion picture pioneer and made a final screen appearance in The Bounty Killer (1965).
